Above: An Egyptian soldier is held aloft by a crowd of protesters in Cairo.

By contrast, both the regular Police and State Security were fairly brutal in attempting to repress the protests. Egypt, like many other countries, has mandatory conscription. Whereas certain people specifically seek out roles in the police force, effectively self-selecting for certain ideologies or personality types, the lower ranks of the Army reflect a fuller cross-section of Egyptian society, and if anything are likely to tilt towards the poor.

I wonder: does that fact explain anything about the behavior of the Egyptian Army in this situation? The Generals in Egypt are unlikely to represent such a broad cross section, but they might reasonably wonder whether their troops actually would fire on protesters if ordered to do so.

Could it be that mandatory conscription is pro-democracy? I’d love to hear your thoughts below.